At Simpls, you know we love investing hours into learning about food systems and processes, so you don’t have to. Sometimes we get so pumped about a concept we just have to give you the summarized scoop about how you, as a Simpls customer, are building a better future, one tasty pizza, and bowl of soup at a time.
Today’s inspiring (aka potentially nerdy) food topic is ‘micro supply chains.’
This concept gained awareness as the COVID-19 pandemic forever changed the way businesses operate, especially how people were able (or unable) to access food. Since the idea behind micro supply chains is all about flexibility and resiliency, we wanted to take a closer look at what this means for local food and you.
What is a micro supply chain?
Unless you’re growing all of your own food, the reality is we rely on a vast network of food producers all over the world. While this provides access to a great variety and low-cost ingredients, what happens when just one ingredient becomes unavailable or a natural disaster delays shipping? That’s a supply chain disruption. (We’ll save writing about the carbon footprint of that global production for a future blog post.) That’s where a micro supply chain solves some notable issues.
Why do micro supply chains matter?
With a micro supply chain, raw materials can be sourced closer to the consumer – a win for the environment by reducing carbon footprint and a win for supporting local businesses, including farms. When a food company like us can personally know the farms and know the farmers, we can ensure our farm-to-freezer meals are made with the absolute best, beneficial local ingredients.
Eat Simpls. Create a resilient food supply chain.
As you know, we’re on a mission to make eating with impact both delicious and easy. Let’s consider one piece of the puzzle (or pizza, in our case!): our pizza crust. Wheat is sourced from A-Frame Farm in Madison, MN; made into flour by Baker’s Field Flour & Bread in Northeast Minneapolis, MN; and then we at Simpls use this flour to make our from-scratch pizza crust dough in our kitchen in St Paul, MN.
That’s only three steps from farm to doorstep - the fewest miles from the farm to your table of any ready-to-eat meal available. Even when we deliver to our customers in Forest Lake (yep! - our delivery area is expansive), your pizza crust has traveled less than 250 miles from farm to table.
Our commitment to you is to deliver (to your doorstep, in fact!) the finest frozen foods made for you with big flavor and a tiny footprint. But this work wouldn’t be possible without you, so thank you for joining us in building a resilient food supply chain. Give yourself a pat on the back, and then order some more pizza and build a better future.